Man admits to burglarizing cars parked at Southington YMCA: police

SOUTHINGTON - A Plantsville man has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of property from cars parked in the YMCA lot.

Griffin Vanduinen, 18, of 39 Great Pine Path, is facing six counts of third-degree burglary, 19 counts of credit card theft and one count of second-degree larceny.

According to the arrest warrant, he confessed to police that he stole from eight or nine cars in late February and early March. Vanduinen, the document said, was at the YMCA, at 29 High St., between Feb. 25 and March 1. While there, he watched visitors and tried to gauge whether or not they had valuables in their car.

Vanduinen, according to the warrant, would follow the visitors to the gym area and wait for them to hang up their keys on the key rack. He would then take the keys and use the panic button to locate the respective vehicle before ransacking it, police wrote in the warrant.

Of the six victims who reported the thefts to police, a total of $10,857 was reported stolen between missing cash and belongings and fraudulent credit card transactions.

According to police, one victim reported $900 cash missing from his car and another $1,210 in fraudulent transactions on his credit card. Another victim said there were 12 fraudulent transactions on his credit card, totaling $1,283, and that his $600 iPhone was missing.

One woman said a $5,934 ring was stolen.

Vanduinen was arrested on April 12 and released after posting $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Bristol Superior Court next Monday.

Justin Muszynski can be reached at 860-973-1809 or at jmuszynski@centralctcommunications.com.